Caged floating seal assembly

Abstract

A seal assembly establishes sealing engagement with a plurality of differently dimensioned instruments passing through a trocar. The seal assembly is a caged seal assembly movably disposed within the trocar and includes at least two seal segments disposable into and out of a sealing orientation relative to the instrument. A cage structure of the seal assembly includes at least two cage segments each connected to a seal segment, a biasing assembly connected to the cage structure and disposed and structured to normally bias the seal segments into sealing orientation.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A seal assembly structured to establish sealing engagement with differently dimensioned instruments passing through a trocar, the seal assembly comprising:
 a caged seal assembly movably disposed within the trocar in receiving relation to an instrument passing therethrough, said caged seal assembly including at least two seal segments disposable into and out of a sealing orientation relative to the instrument, said caged seal assembly dimensioned and configured to establish sealing engagement with instruments within a predetermined dimensional range; and 
 a cage structure including at least two cage segments each connected to a different one of said seal segments, a biasing assembly connected to said cage structure and disposed and structured to normally bias said seal segments into said sealing orientation, and said cage structure and said biasing assembly cooperatively structured to dispose said seal segments out of said sealing orientation upon passage therethrough of an instrument sized greater than said predetermined dimensional range, 
 wherein said biasing assembly comprises an elastic member interconnected to and between said cage segments, said elastic member expandable and at least partially movable with said cage segments as said seal segments are disposed from said sealing orientation into a non-sealing orientation, and 
 wherein said elastic member comprises an annular configuration disposed in surrounding relation to said cage structure. 
 
     
     
       2. The seal assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a hinge portion pivotably coupling the at least two seal segments to separate two of the seal segments. 
     
     
       3. The seal assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the elastic member comprises a resilient bar positioned at least in part of each of the at least two seal segments. 
     
     
       4. The seal assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a magnet located in two of the seal segments. 
     
     
       5. The seal assembly of  claim 1 , wherein the trocar includes an end portion which enables the at least two seal segments to move radially. 
     
     
       6. The seal assembly of  claim 5 , wherein the end portion is configured to prevent the seal segments from moving axially. 
     
     
       7. The seal assembly of  claim 1 , further comprising a second seal structure spaced axially apart from the seal segments. 
     
     
       8. The seal assembly of  claim 7 , wherein the second seal structure is fixed in place.